“Did you see this?” Edward Funk houser, associate professor of com munication said.

He pulled a sheet of paper taped to the side of his filing cabinet off and held it out. It was dated August of 1977 and said “Welcome to N.C. State!” in big bold letters at the top. It was an invitation to a dinner welcoming new faculty members. It was signed by Joab Thomas who was chancellor at the time.

Funkhouser chuckled and proudly stuck it back on the filing cabinet to be displayed.

Funkhouser, 68, has been a pro fessor at N.C. State since he was 31. After this school year, he will enter phased retirement, meaning he will be retired except for teaching three classes once a week for three years. Funkhouser will leave a place where he accomplished too much to men tion, but nonetheless, he said he will still be leaving a “happy fellow” and repeatedly thanked the University for the opportunities given him.

Disc Jockey Days

Funkhouser’s spark for commu nication started at a young age. He said his dad would take him to a restaurant in his small hometown in Virginia at an age when he was “about as tall as the table.” His dad would talk with his friends, one of them being a disc jockey at the new radio station in their town. After lis tening to this man speak, he said he knew he wanted to be a disc jockey. According to Funkhouser, he’s never had another goal.

By the age of 16, he was on the ra dio and continued throughout his college days, including his time in graduate school. He describes public speaking as “exciting, challenging and tension- building” and carried this love into his years at N.C. State, being the voice of the Wolfpack. He is the Public Address announcer for the football team and Woman’s bas ketball team.

“I think if you are going to be in that line of work, anytime you sit down behind the microphone you should feel butterflies in your stom ach because if you don’t then you shouldn’t do it anymore,” Funk houser said. “You have to be a little afraid of failure and feel a challenge to do a good job, and I’ve always felt that has kept me going and helped me do a better job.”

But how did this disc jockey be come Edward Funkhouser, the pro fessor and advisor?

Edward Funkhouser, PhD

After he graduated college in 1968, he was in the military for three years where he served as an Intelligence Special Agent. When he came home, he went back to work in radio and a bit in television, even though he had never studied it.

He was a business major in under graduate studies, so he went back to James Madison University in Har risonburg, Va. to take some newly added communication courses. One of his professors advised him to go to graduate school, and according to Funkhouser, he did—at the Univer sity of Memphis.

At the University of Memphis, Mike McGee, a ‘legend’ in the communication world according to Funkhouser, gave him advise that he never forgot. Funkhouser also said that it influenced him to work on his doctorate after finishing his masters.

“I gave him an answer that I’ve never forgotten, and I knew it was totally stupid,” Funkhouser said. “I said something back immediately, what I said to him was ‘I don’t know enough to do that.’”

Funkhouser said McGee’s jaw dropped and said, “You kidding me? Let me see if I understand this, we have all of these gradu ate students who want to work on doctorate degrees who think they know everything, and here we have a student who thinks he doesn’t know enough?” McGee continued, “You’d be wonderful; I would love to have you in my class, if you think you do not know enough, that is a good reason to do this.”

With that, Funkhouser attended Ohio University in Athens, got his doctorate and came to N.C. State in 1977.

Part of the Pack

According to Funkhouser, he has always gotten along well with stu dents even though their age differ ence increases each year.

“I have a daughter who recently graduated from N.C. State, and she has sort of kept me in the loop about what is going on with young people so you know young people really can’t push anything past me; I mean, I know what’s going on,” Funkhouser joked, “But I think I still have a good relationship with young students and I am proud of that.”

According to Funkhouser, he has centered his work on teaching stu dents and enjoys it greatly.

“I think that it is, in our society, a privilege, to walk into a classroom full of 18-year-old young people and tell them about the world that they are going to enter profession ally and help them make decisions about what they want to do and so forth,” Funkhouser said. “That is a privilege, and I have learned to re spect that and the fact that I am part of doing something like that, I am very proud of that.”

Funkhouser said he enjoys getting to know the students and would like to stay in touch with them after he fully retires. According to Funk houser, he would miss talking with students if he left the university community completely.

“That is why I chose to go to phased retirement because if I sim ply quit all at once, I would miss dealing with the students and talk ing with them because it is very enjoyable to me,” Funkhouser said.

As for post-retirement, Funkhous er said plans to lay low but nothing is concrete, except planning to work on his house. He said he also plans to continue to be the football and woman’s basketball public address announcer “as long as I’m asked to.”

“I had no idea that I would do this in my life, if you talked to me when I was 20 years old and told me I was going to be a college profes sor, I would have said, ‘hmm re ally,’” Funkhouser said. “I had no idea that I would do something like this, but it’s something that I think I’ve done well and that I’m proud of, and I think I had a positive impact on our students and the University, and that’s all you can hope for.”

Whether students know him as the voice of the Wolfpack at the football and woman’s basketball games, as their professor or as their advisor, there is no doubt that how ever he is known, he will be missed on the N.C. State campus.

“So as I go to retirement, I’m happy. I’m a happy fellow, and I didn’t know that I would be when I got ready for retirement, but as it happens, I’m a happy fellow, yes, I’m pleased,” Funkhouser said. “And I’m thankful to the University for giving me this opportunity, and I’ve had a good time.”